Up All Night
by superlc529
Summary: Hanson ropes Jo and Henry into babysitting his sons... up all night with Jo, what might an already overly-tired Henry say?


A/N: In case it wasn't obvious, I don't own Forever. There's a Forever ficathon going on over at Archive Of Our Own (AO3). If you haven't checked it out, you really should. We're on Day 2 and it's already amazing. This fandom is very talented. Hope you guys enjoy my contribution to the 'Sleepless In New York' Forever Ficathon.

* * *

Up All Night

"Please, Jo," Hanson was practically pleading.

"I don't know, Mike," Jo shook her head, "This favor would require back-up. And I don't think anybody would be willing to, to be honest."

"Well, you can get Henry to help," Hanson suggested as the medical examiner came up to join the two NYPD detectives.

"Get Henry to help with what?" Henry asked.

"Hanson and his wife have a night out planned and their babysitter just bailed on them," Jo explained, "And he's trying to rope me in to babysitting his two boys for him… again."

"If you do this, Jo, I'll do your paperwork for two weeks," Hanson was desperate, "Karen and I really need this night out and our tickets are non-refundable."

"If you wish, Detective, I could assist you in babysitting," Henry offered as Jo was vehemently shaking her head, eyes wide behind Hanson's back.

"Yes! Thank you, Doc!" Hanson clapped and vigorously shook Henry's hand, "Be at my place at eight tonight."

Hanson walked away and Jo slowly turned to Henry, "What part of my shaking my head didn't get through to you?"

"You're really that opposed to babysitting Hanson's children?" Henry raised an eyebrow.

"Let's just say that last time, I could've used the SWAT team to help me," Jo said.

"Well, I guess this time you'll just have to settle for one medical examiner," Henry smiled.

* * *

"You're doing what tonight?" Abe asked as he cleared the dishes of their dinner.

"Helping Jo babysit Hanson's children," Henry replied.

"And what prompted this?" Abe smirked.

"I happened to pass by their desks tonight to bid them goodnight after wrapping up our most recent case and heard their conversation," Henry grabbed their glasses from tonight's wine.

"You going to be awake enough?" Abe asked, "You've been pulling one-to-many all-nighters at the morgue to make up from your taking time off."

"I'll be fine," Henry waved it off, "I've operated on less sleep than this… especially when you were younger."

"Yes, well, you had a model son," Abe looked a little proud of himself.

Henry laughed out loud and collected his jacket and scarf to get ready to meet Jo. She should be arriving any moment, "You and I have very different memories of those times then."

"Well, there was only one of me and those moments were far and few between," Abe remarked, "What prompted you to want to babysit anyway? From what I've heard from the detective, Hanson's kids aren't exactly angels."

"After all that Jo has done for me, I figured it was the least I could do to help her out tonight," Henry replied.

"Even dead tired?" Abe asked and then added, "No pun intended."

Henry smiled, "Even dead tired."

Abe gave his father a look, "You miss it, don't you?"

"Miss what?" Henry was in the middle of tying his scarf around his neck.

"Me being little," Abe knew.

* * *

**1945**

Slowly, Henry closed the door to the room of his newly-adopted-son Abraham. He just got him to get to sleep. Abe hadn't been feeling well for the past few days. Abigail had been out of town, away at another hospital for a few months so he was on his own with the infant. He knew when he decided to adopt the young refugee, it'd be a full-time job, but along with his actual full-time job as a doctor, he seriously contemplated if it were possible to die from exhaustion. At this point in the night, he half-expected himself to pop up in the river.

Just as Henry collapsed (rather ungracefully) on his bed, ready to finally close his eyes and get some much needed rest, Abe's cries broke the silence of the apartment. Rising once again, he stretched out a few kinks in his back and headed back to his son's room, "Daddy's coming, Abraham."

* * *

Pulled back to the present, Henry opened his mouth to reply to his son when Jo knocked at the door and waved at the two men inside. Waving back at the detective to acknowledge her there, he turned back to his son, "Good night, Abraham."

Abe nodded back to him as he watched his father walk out with Jo. He let out a sigh and breathed, "'Night, dad."

* * *

"You made it," Hanson opened his door to be greeted by Jo and Henry.

"To be honest, part of me didn't want to show," Jo teased him.

"Yeah, yeah," Hanson gestured for them to come in. He took their coats and hung them up on the coat rack by the door, "We really do appreciate this, you two. Now you have my number if you need anything… we'll probably be back late, around two or three like last time."

"Where is Karen?" Jo looked around.

"Out in the car," Hanson grinned.

"Right, see you later, Mike," Jo made her way into the living room.

"See you later, Doc," Hanson patted Henry on the shoulder, "Thanks again."

"Of course," Henry shut the door behind Hanson and joined Jo in the living room. He was greeted by Hanson's two boys who were planted in front of the television playing a video game in an adjoining room.

"Boys, I want to introduce you to somebody," Jo tried to get their attention, but they played on. She stepped in front of the television and repeated herself.

"Hey!" the oldest, David protested. The youngest, Matt, paused the video game and gave Jo their attention.

Jo gestured to Henry, "This is Henry, a coworker of your dad's and mine. He's going to be helping me babysit tonight."

"Hello, boys," Henry smiled and gave a small wave.

"Hi," they let out an unenthusiastic greeting.

"Did you two already have dinner?" Jo asked.

"Yeah, why do you think we were playing the game?" David asked like it was obvious.

"Right, well, only one more hour and then you two have to get ready for bed," Jo instructed.

"Fine," Matt un-paused the game and they went back to playing.

"Charming," Henry remarked as he and Jo went into the other room and sat on the couch.

"Told you," Jo leaned back, "We're just lucky they have their attention on the video game… and more than likely Hanson put the fear of God into them to not give us a hard time. Or rather, not give you a hard time."

"What makes the two of you think I can't take care of children?" Henry turned to her, his arm outstretched on the back of the couch.

"You don't exactly strike me as the babysitting-type," Jo shrugged her shoulder, "Sure, you can lecture better than any professor I ever had, but you just don't strike me as the kind of guy to stay up all night with a kid."

"I'll have you know that I've done that plenty in my time," Henry folded his arms.

"Really?" Jo looked taken aback, "With some of Abe's grandkids or something?"

Henry steeled himself at that. He knew Jo didn't know their true relationship and was just asking something that seemed plausible from her point of view.

"Uh, no, Abraham doesn't have any children or grandchildren actually," Henry answered.

"Oh, so among your many jobs, you've dabbled in babysitting?" Jo wondered.

"Of sorts," Henry nodded and got up, "And I'll prove it to you."

An amused expression appeared on Jo's face as she got up to follow Henry into the other room where Hanson's boys were still engrossed in their video game.

* * *

"I should've brought my video camera. That was amazing," Jo commented as she and Henry came down the stairs after putting Matt and David to bed. They ended up staying up way past the boys' bedtime playing games and actually having a real great time. Surprisingly, they were actually pretty well-behaved. In exchange for getting to stay up so late, the boys promised Jo and Henry they wouldn't tell their parents about staying up and if they ever babysat them again, they'd be on their best behavior and go to bed on time. Negotiating at its finest.

Henry adopted a cocky grin as they once again plopped themselves down on the couch in the living room. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he let out a big yawn, "Told you."

"Where did you learn to handle kids like that?" Jo curled her feet up underneath her.

"Years of experience," Henry replied with his eyes still closed.

"So how long were you a babysitter then? Amongst your numerous other odd jobs," Jo rested her head on her hand, her elbow propped up on the back of the couch, facing Henry.

"I was never a babysitter," Henry replied, sounding half-awake.

"Just some yearning paternal instinct coming out then?" Jo guessed.

"Missing it actually," Henry sighed.

Jo furrowed her brows, "You're a dad?"

"Mm-hmm… son," Henry nodded, sinking slowly further into the couch. He had gradually positioned himself to where his head laid on the arm of the couch, his arms folded over his chest; and his legs were outstretched, his socked feet almost touching Jo's. His eyes were still closed. The fact that Henry seemed to be slowly falling asleep eluded Jo.

"Wow," Jo was genuinely taken aback. Never seeing Henry with a child or the fact that there was no mention of children in Henry's file when she investigated him for their first case together so long ago, she had to ask, "What happened to your son?"

"He's fine," Henry replied.

"Does he live with his mother? With Abigail?" Jo went off the little information she knew about her partner.

"No, he lives with me," Henry replied. Jo was about to ask another question in confusion when Henry continued on, "Abigail left Abe and I quite a long time ago."

"Abe?" Jo lifted her head off of where it was resting and stretched her legs out to lie next to Henry's, "Your son's name is Abe too? How old is he?"

"Almost seventy," Henry was just about asleep as a sleepy smile stretched across his lips, "And he's still my little boy."

Jo was genuinely concerned for Henry's sanity now. He was answering her questions as if the older man she knew was _his_ son. She sat forward to ask another question when she saw Henry's chin dip into his chest, fast asleep.

Carefully, Jo maneuvered herself off the couch not to disturb her sleeping companion. Taking her cell phone out, she dialed a very familiar number.

_It rang a few times before the man on the other end picked up, "Hello?"_

"Hey, Abe, it's Jo. Sorry to bother you so late. I hope I didn't wake you up," Jo stepped into the other room.

"_Is something wrong, Detective?" Abe's mind started racing with various scenarios. Henry couldn't have died in front of her, they were only babysitting. What was wrong?_

"No, nothing's wrong," Jo assured him, "I think… Henry just, uh, he said something strange."

"_What'd he say?" Abe asked._

"Well, I think he was half-asleep when he said it and I know it doesn't make any sense…" Jo started, but Abe interrupted her.

"_Henry's been pulling all-nighters at the morgue. He said he wanted to make up for all the time he had off from, well, you know," Abe explained, "I doubt he's even had a few hours of sleep over the past few days."_

"Henry said that you were his son," Jo blurted out.

_Abe let out a nervous laugh, "Why would he say something like that?"_

"We were talking about experiences with kids and then Henry said that he was a father, said his name was Abe and that he was almost seventy years old," Jo rattled off.

"_Henry's been tired, Jo. I wouldn't take anything he says seriously," Abe covered for his father, "He was probably dreaming. Sometimes we joke with each other, what with Henry's pretentiousness that sometimes he's more of the dad and I'm more of the son."_

"Right," Jo wasn't entirely buying it, but it made a hell of a lot more sense than Abe actually being Henry's son. It was a long day for everybody.

"_Are Detective Hanson and his wife back yet?" Abe thought it best to change the subject, "If you want, you can give me the address and I can take Henry off your shoulders."_

Jo looked at her watch. It was already almost two am, "They should be back any time now. I don't want you having to come out at this time of night anyway. I don't mind driving Henry home. We should be out of here soon enough."

"_Okay, Mom," Abe teased at her response of not wanting him to be out at this time of night._

"Have a good night, Abe," Jo smiled.

"'_Night, kid," Abe hung up._

Jo walked back into the living room where Henry was sleeping soundly on the couch, now taking up its entire space. She tilted her head to the side, silently observing him. He looked so peaceful – like the weight he always carried on his shoulders was finally lifted. Henry didn't have to help her watch Hanson's kids, especially since he had had such little sleep over the past few days; but he did out of the kindness of his heart.

She was lucky to have Henry Morgan in her life. And whatever secrets he had, she was willing to wait and be there for him whenever he was ready to confide in her. Jo made her way over to the couch and took a blanket from the back of it and draped it over the doctor.

She then sat on the chair next to Henry's head. Looking down at her best friend (when did he become that?), she couldn't help but let out a small smile, "Sleep well, Henry."

THE END

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That's a wrap. I hope I did all right with this prompt. The bit with the mini-flashback to when Abe was a baby was my original idea for this prompt and then I thought of another idea and found a clever way to weave it in. Hopefully you guys liked the story. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought and don't forget to check out the other stories for the 'Sleepless in New York' Forever ficathon over on AO3. :)


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